Pialp to george r



(N0 Mode l.) W I E. B. REBHOLZ.

HAND SHIELD.

No. 582,765. Patented May 18, 1897.-

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

ENGELBERT B. REBI-IOLZ, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALE TO GEORGE R. MAHONEY, OF SAME PLACE.

HAND-SHIELD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 582,765, dated May 18, 1897.

Application filed November 25, 1895. Serial No. 56 9,993. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ENGELBERT B. REB- HOLZ, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Mil-. waukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand-Shields; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has for its object to prevent injury to the hands of a person extracting a cork or stopper from a bottle, especially the hand employing a lifting-tool for a seal-stopper such as is common in connection with bottles for beer and various other beverages, especially such as are carbonated.

In view of the foregoing the invention consists in a simple, economical, and durable shield, such as is hereinafter more fully set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed, said shield having the double function of protecting the hand that steadies a bottle as well as the hand that uses the implement for removing the cork or stopper.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents an elevation of the neck portion of a bottle in connection with a shield embodying all the features of my invention, the shield being-in vertical transverse section. Fig. 2 represents a plan view of the shield inverted.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A represents the neck portion of an ordinary glass bottle for beer or other beverage, and B the body portion of a shield that constitutes my invention.

The body of the shield is a preferably tapered circular shell open at both ends, and it may be made from sheet metal or other suitable stiff non-contractive material.

The upper end of the shell has an inturned horizontal annular flange b, that in the most primitive form of my. invention will come to rest on the month end of a bottle; but, as herein shown, it is preferable to face the under side of the flange with a gasket 0, of rubber, leather, or other suitable material, in order not to have contact of metal with glass in case said shield is made from sheet metal, the latter being the preferred material for economical reasons.

The annular flange b, gasket-lined or otherwise, not only serves as a stop to limit descent of the shield on a bottle, but it also has the function of a rest for the implement em ployed to lift a seal-stopper from said bottle, as well as a guard for the hand using said implement in case the neck of said bottle breaks during the operation of removing said stopper, it most frequently happening that this hand of a barkeeper or other person is injured by coming into forcible contact with a bottle thus broken. It also follows that a stopper removing implement being fulcrumed on the shield-flange instead of in direct contact with the glass bottle, there is less liability of breakage than is ordinarily the case, especially when said implementis made from metal.

The hand not employing the cork or stopper removing implement may grasp the shield at rest on the bottle-neck and be protected from injury in case said neck is broken.

The shield as thus far described is especially designed for use in connection with a glass or other fragile bottle set upon a counter or other support during the operation of removing the cork or stopper; but in order to hold said shield and bottle together, so that the latter may be supported entirely in the hand not occupied with the implement necessary to the opening operation, a set-screw C may be arranged to run in under the usually eularged upper portion of the bottle-neck.

The above-described device is a utensil for use only at such times as it may be desirable to remove stoppers or corks from bottles, one shield being capable of use for an indefinite time on many bottles, it having no function whatever as a stopper, cover, or means for holding a cover or stopper in place.

Having now fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Ahand-shield for use on bottles, the same consisting of a shell open at both ends and provided with an annular inturned flange, constituting an implement-rest and handguard, together with a gasket facing the bottle-opposing side of the flange.

2. Ahand-shield for use on bottles, the same consisting of a shell open at both ends but provided with aflange constituting an implement-rest and hand-guard, together with a setscrew carried by the shell to be run in under an enlargement of a bottle-neck.

3. Ahand-shield for use on bottles, the same consisting of a stiff non-contraetive shell open at both ends and provided with an inwardlyprojecting annular flange for limiting descent on a bottle, this flange also constituting an implement rest and hand guard, together with a set-screw carried by the shell in position to be run in under the usual enlargement of the bottle-neck.

l. A utensil constituting a hand-shield for 

